Sharing the risk

Assessing risk ownership for managing natural hazards is complicated, particularly as natural hazard risks can resonate across long timeframes

Assessing risk ownership for managing natural hazards is complicated, particularly as natural hazard risks can resonate across long timeframes and have multiple organisations responsible. But research is helping government and emergency management agencies identify and allocate ownership of risks, how risk owners are responsible, and what they can do to manage them.

Through the Mapping and understanding vulnerability and risks project, led by Prof Roger Jones and Celeste Young at Victoria University, a framework has been developed to support better allocation of risk ownership as part of strategic planning and risk assessment activities. Developed in consultation with CRC partners, the Risk Ownership Framework for Emergency Management Policy and Practice uses a values– based approach to provide a starting point for understanding and clarifying risk ownership as part of strategic risk planning and assessment activities.

Emergency Management Victoria has incorporated key elements of the framework into the emergency risk assessment process that is used to assess emergency risks across the state, enhancing emergency risk management activities. Applicable to the all communities/all hazards model, the research has provided clarity for shared responsibility as an important element of managing risks, providing EMV with a method for identifying disparate risk owners at different stages, beyond the agencies that have traditional emergency management roles.

This means that the research will be helping to guide priority projects and programs for risk mitigation.

The research is also being referenced at the federal level, informing disaster policy work for Emergency Management Australia, and changing the way that people think about risk ownership.

Key elements of the process have been mapped to the risk assessment process in the National Emergency Risk Assessment Guidelines. Greater application of the risk ownership process is expected if the key concepts of the research are integrated into the guidelines, or published as a companion document.

The team has also worked as part of a collaborative partnership with the National Resilience Task Force, part of the Commonwealth Department of Home Affairs, contributing to the Australian Vulnerability Profile, alongside conducting a policy briefing for the Commonwealth Department of Environment.

The research has also been recognised internationally, taking out the best poster award at the 2017 European Climate Change Adaption conference in Glasgow, while the UK Climate Impacts Programme invited the project team to present at their adaption in practice series as part of their 20th anniversary celebrations.